Dreycon Dell Lightsaber with Sound Completed

**Kilo** · 01-29-2011, 01:54 PM

Hi all -

Just thought I'd post a couple of pics of my lightsaber that I just completed this morning. It uses a green Luxeon Rebel Star LED powered by a 1000 mA buckpuck and the sound board from a 2010 Hasbro Obi-Wan Kenobi lightsaber. The saber runs on four AAA rechargeables (tried AA's, but there was no way to get them to fit in the hilt), and I've installed a recharge port in the base of the hilt (I had to drill bigger holes in the speaker mount for the additional wires). The colored parts that you see are powder coated in "copper vein".

You can't really tell from the pictures, but the blade is an emerald green in lowered lighting. I'm actually a bit disappointed in the brightness, though maybe it's normal for these types of LEDs. I measured the current before zipping it up and was getting 850 mA (not the 1000 mA I expected from the buckpuck) at 3.10V between the buckpuck and the LED. According to the technical specs on the green Rebel (found at http://www.philipslumileds.com/uploads/36/DS65-pdf, look at the graph on page 15), there's really not a lot of brightness difference between 850 and 1000 mA, so I don't know if it matters.

The overall length of the hilt is 12.25"; the blade is 36" long. I had to do some serious "cram fu" to get everything inside a hilt this small, but the results were worth it!

Here is a close up of the lit blade in a darkened room (not dark, but curtains are closed). Again, the blade is actually more emerald green than it appears here.

Here is the full blade in the same conditions:

...and in full daylight. As you can see, it's less than impressive in full daylight. I don't know how that stacks up to other LEDs.

Originally, I had ordered the "copper vein" powder coating in "jollypop copper orange". Let me tell you, there's not much "copper" about it -- it's University of Tennessee orange! I managed to get most (but not all) of the powder coat off of the main body, but decided it wasn't worth even trying on the choke. To my surprise, however, the blade from the Hasbro Obi-Wan lightsaber fit perfectly in the choke -- an extrememly snug, well-mounted fit! I may eventually add light (but not sound) to this one as well.

Thanks for all the very informative posts here -- I was pretty much able to find everything I needed to know, thanks to you folks!

Best regards,
Kilo

**dgdve** · 01-30-2011, 09:20 AM

very nice job, I like the green with it.. have you considered going to Li-ion.. it may be brighter (but of course will discharge quicker).

**IG-88** · 01-30-2011, 09:31 AM

I like the style of this. 12" is not really cram-fu, but if it was your first time with one this size, then congrats.

**Kilo** · 01-30-2011, 09:54 AM

Hi IG-88 -

I'd be very interested in your advice for getting the sound card, speaker, and battery pack better placed within the saber. I have to say I had a serious time trying to get it all in. I got it wired up with the 4 AA's and finally gave up trying to get it into the saber! Any suggestions you might have would be much appreciated! Right now, there is literally zero space in the main hilt -- I even had to angle the sound card to get the switch in. The choke has a bit of room, but I couldn't figure out any way to make use of that space -- any ideas?

Thanks!
Kilo

dg -

Hmm. Interesting thought. But would the Li-ions actually be brighter? Voltage is voltage, yes? I could drop the buckpuck and run at a higher current (I tried that up to about 1200 mA -- I was afraid to push it much more), but then you lose the nice emerald color. It looks much more white-green and isn't really all -that- much brighter to the eye (the tech specs on Luxeon's page bear that out as well). Do the Li-ions have some other property?

Thanks for the advice,
Kilo

**Knighthammer** · 01-30-2011, 10:07 AM

one thing a person could do and the majority of people do is to make there own recharge packs. Then you don't have to worry so much about the shape of the battery pack. A 4-cell pack could be made into a 2 x 2 long "sled" and there might even be room to put the sound board on top of it. Just a thought.

**Hasid Lafre** · 01-30-2011, 11:11 AM

Please use the edit button instead of double posting.

Saber looks good.

**Jedi-Loreen** · 01-30-2011, 11:51 AM

No, please use the Multi-Quote button, to the right of the Reply With Quote button.

I'm going to merge your 2 posts together.

**cardcollector** · 01-30-2011, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by Kilo

Hi IG-88 -

I'd be very interested in your advice for getting the sound card, speaker, and battery pack better placed within the saber. I have to say I had a serious time trying to get it all in. I got it wired up with the 4 AA's and finally gave up trying to get it into the saber! Any suggestions you might have would be much appreciated! Right now, there is literally zero space in the main hilt -- I even had to angle the sound card to get the switch in. The choke has a bit of room, but I couldn't figure out any way to make use of that space -- any ideas?

Thanks!
Kilo

Well, I am not IG-88 but I do have some tips you can use...
First off, It looks like the main hilt piece is 7" correct? If so, I would argue it isn't cram-fu to the highest level, Because I have fit everything you just mentioned into 4" of 1 1/4" sinktube...

One way you could save space is by "stacking" components. For example, Your buckpuck, and soundcard can be stacked on top of each other and secured in heatshrink. That would take about 1" lengthwise in your hilt. 6" left...
Your switch, you can't do much about, however, you could mount your speaker between that little bit of free space between the switch and the choke. It would provide plenty of resonance, and protect it if you ever had to open your hilt up. so now,,, let's say 5" left.
Now all you have left to work with is your batts (1.5") and your recharge port. (.5"). That would leave you, in theory, with a wopping 3" of space left in your hilt...

Those are just some Ideas for you. I know this is your first saber, and it looks good. (except for the blue emmiter... not my personal cup of tea.) I can't wait to see what else you come out with.